This invention relates to recirculating liquid fuel burners, and provides an improvement in certain respects in the burner claimed in the U.S. patent application of Andrew J. Syska, entitled "Recirculating Burner" and filed Sept. 4, 1975, Ser. No. 610,250.
Recirculation of hot combustion gases is a known means of vaporizing liquid fuel for better combustion thereof, but such recirculation is unnecessary and may be detrimental when the fuel is already a gas, such as natural gas. It is desirable to provide a simple means of converting a burner from a recirculating mode for burning a liquid fuel to a non-recirculating mode for burning a gaseous fuel. Andrew J. Syska, in his above-mentioned patent application, suggested the use of sliding gates alternately to open or close the recirculation passages interconnecting the section of his burner where vaporization of liquid fuel occurs from the section where combustion occurs, thereby to permit or block recirculation.